Mobile ticketing is growing in popularity as a means to facilitate convenient ticket purchases and fare payments for bus and rail riders. Current mobile purchasing models primarily center on an e-commerce model where purchases are billed to a registered credit card or processed through a cloud wallet service like PayPal® or Google Checkout®. While these mechanisms may work for riders with banking relationships, those who have none or do not wish to use one on a mobile device are left out. This can pose major problems, as in some transit systems a vast majority of transit riders do not have and/or use a bank account or credit account to purchase transit fare, instead opting to utilize cash payments.
Transit retail networks have typically been set up to allow convenient locations for bus riders to top up their smart cards and/or to purchase passes and travel products. The imposition on store owners has included the use of hardware with specialty applications that require training for clerks to be able to key in desired stored value amounts, pass types, ticket types, and the like.